My Nana's 90th SUPRISE Birthday Party Recap!

I just want to start by saying thank you to everyone who came out to surprise my Nana for her 90th birthday, it was truly so special for us and most definitely for her. 

When my Aunt KK, told me we should have a surprise birthday party for my Nana, I instantly thought of doing a Mickey Mouse theme. The reason being is because Mickey Mouse turned 90 years just 4 months prior. So it was only fitting right? But of course wanted to go away from the traditional red and white polka dots, and black or the red, white, and yellow theme. My Nana is very girly, and loves to match from head to toe.

3 Ways to Help Soothe a Teething Baby

My son, Luca, has almost 6 teeth now, and let me tell you....finding ways to soothe your teething baby is a life saver. I am sure it hurts so bad whenever their teeth are cutting through, and they can't communicate with you how painful it can be. So all they do is cry and scream, and are uncomfortable. Therefore, I am listing 3 short and simple ways to soothe your teething baby.

Best Sippy Cup to Prevent Spills & Can be Used at Any Angle

We have gone through countless of different sippy cups. Some would spill/make a mess if Luca turned them a certain way. Or he just did not like them at all. I mean he will tell you when he doesn’t like something or want something... he simply pushes it away. Well y’all, he did not do this with the Nuby 360 Grip n’ Sip cups! *Disclaimer thank you Nuby for sponsoring today’s post, but just FYI all words and opinions are my own.

9/10 Month Update

I know.. I know... Luca is now 10 months old, and this picture above says 9 months. Well life has been crazy busy, and I am now just getting around to doing an update. Only one more update after this one, which is his one year update! How in the world is he already almost ONE? I can't believe it. He is just growing way too fast. 

Update time: Luca weighs 19 lbs and is 28 inches long. He was 18 lbs at his 9 month check up, but now being a month later has gained another pound. He is starting to catch up in height, and is no longer in the 10% for height or weight for that matter. Wahoo! I believe he is in the 25% for both. He's perfect in every way.. not too chunky.. not too little.. Just perfect! His thighs are still chunky though hehe! Luca is now in size 4 diapers, and we are currently loving Parasol diapers. For clothing sizes, he is wearing size 12 months, 6-12 months, and 9-12 months. Now, some zip up pjs are super snug on him though, so we mainly stick to him wearing a shift and pant pj set. He prefers them anyway, since he hates getting dressed or changed. 

Luca is now crawling and pulling himself up to stand.. Like what? So crazy. He crawls all over the place and rarely sits still. He has five teeth now. and loves to eat. He didn't officially start until about two weeks ago. So it took him a little longer than I thought to start crawling, but once he figured it out... he doesn't stop haha! 

We actually had some difficulty with him going to sleep after he started crawling because he just wanted to stay playing. Now he is sleeping back to normal, and just a few times fighting sleep. But that is better than every night like it was for a week. 

Luca is still adventurous as ever, well he doesn't really have a choice. He goes where mama goes. In the past couple of months he has traveled to West Virginia, Charleston SC, and enrolled in music class for a couple months. 

While in Charleston, Luca decided to dig his teeth into mama causing sores too the point where I just couldn't handle breastfeeding anymore. I was starting to not look forward to every feeding. So I made the decision to exclusively pump, and then after a month of EP switching to formula. Thankfully the transition went relatively smoothly. Let me know if y'all want me to do a blog post about transitioning from breastfeeding to formula. I made it 9 months exclusively breastfeeding, even though my goal was a year, I am happy I made it to 9 months. Mama is happy now, baby is healthy and happy, and that's all that matters right? If curious, we give Luca Happy Baby Formula stage 2. 

He's seriously getting so big. He is now holding his bottle by himself, crawling, and pulling up on things to stand up. Not only that he is also knows how to pull himself onto his kid couch in his play room. Too big Too big! He also started to wave also. 

We also just enrolled him in baby gymnastics, and will start this week. I am so excited to see him learn, and play with everyone. I think he will love it since he is so active now. 

Luca Loves 

1. Eating. He loves eating table food. Prefers that over baby food any day. His favorite food right now is chicken, broccoli, mash potatoes, pancakes, eggs, and ground turkey. 

2. Being pushed in his stroller. 

3. Playing in the bath

4. Smiling. We love when he does his "cute boy smile"

5. Saying mama. (his first word)

6. Still loving his doggies. Especially Diesel. He gets so happy and excited when he sees them

7. Love his bouncer still, and is starting to really love his walker. 

Luca's daddy/my husband also came home from deployment a couple days after he turned 9 months old! He was so happy to see him. 

Here are so more cute pictures of my sweet boy! That''s all for now for an update. 

Galentine's Event with the East TN Boss Babes//Copper Cellar//My Kind of Lovely

"#girlgang. Fearless ladies who exude self confidence 

and build their fellow sista up-not tear her down."

Community over competition is something I strive to live by everyday. There are too many people out there nowadays that try to be the best, and will take down anyone that gets in there way. That's why I love all my girls that are apart of the East TN Boss Babes. We are a group bloggers in the East TN area, and we strive to make a huge impact in our communities. 

I know it is a couple weeks past Valentine's day but I wanted to do a blog post just recapping everything we did during our Galentine's event. 

We had this event planned for awhile before the actual day, and once the day rolled around it was pouring the rain all day long. Didn't let up once. So thankfully our photographer, Erika, is so amazing and found us a covered area where we could still shoot pictures outside. SCORE! Even though my hair didn't stay put, the photos turned out amazing! Seriously in love with them, and how she made this mama feel beautiful and confident. Being able to dress up for once, and hang out with my boss babes was truly the best ever. 

Here are some of my favorite photos:

Click here to visit Erika's website. If you are in the Knoxville area, you should definitely book her. 

Dress//Red Dress Boutique

Shoes//Target

We had the honor to be hosted by Copper Cellar for our Galentine's Dinner. We had a four course meal, choice of cocktails with our appetiziers, and wine with our meal. 

Cocktails: Tito's Cucumber Collins or a Spicy Paloma

Appetizers: Spinach dip, Crab Stuffed Mushrooms, Calamari, and Bruschetta

Featured Wine: Hahn Estates GSM Blend or Rodney Strong Chardonnay

Fresh Salad: Iceberg Wedge or House Salad

Entrees: Shrimp Cheesecake, Seared Tuna, or Blue Cheese Sirloin

Dessert: Peanut Butter Pie or Key Lime Pie

Here is what I chose for each:

Cocktail of choice:

Tito's Cucumber Collins. 

This drink was delicious and so refreshing. 

Appetizer

Spinach Dip

I always go for spinach, cheese, or artichoke dips when I go to restaurants. 

And Copper Cellar's spinach dip did not disappoint. 

It was actually gone so quick, everyone loved it.

(I skipped the salad)

Wine of Choice

Chardonnay 

I am not a big wine drinker, 

but theirs paired nicely with my meal.

Meal of Choice:

Blue Cheese Sirloin 

with a side of Mac n Cheese

Y'all... This was so good. 

I love steak, and this was truly so delicious.

If you're curious how I ordered mine..

I ordered my medium rare. 

The mac n cheese was so yummy too. 

Never can go wrong pairing steak and mac n cheese 

together. So good! 

Dessert:

Peanut Butter Pie

Oh my gosh y'all.

This was so delicious!

It was to die for. 

The slice was huge too. 

We had the best of time at Copper Cellar. The atmosphere was wonderful, they had our table decorated with beautiful floral centerpieces, and had a welcome sign for us whenever we entered the room. We ate dinner in their room downstairs. This room was their original dinning room from when they opened back in 1975. How cool right? 

I just loved getting to finally meet all of these wonderful ladies in person, and chit chatting the night away. And obviously taking tons of pictures :)

We finished our evening by going by the store My Kind of Lovely. Their store is seriously cute, and has so many wonderful pieces. It also has tons of sorority stuff as well. They have a store front in Knoxville, but also sell items as well online. Go check them! 

So excited for what is to come with this amazing group of girls. So stayed tuned for our next events, and see where it takes us! 

xoxo

Megan